The Secret Document
by asgabaser
Summary: Arendelle's king and queen keep Elsa's adoption a secret, until she discovers the Declaration of Adoption a few months after her coronation. After Elsa flees Arendelle again in her panic, Princess Anna again takes responsibility for finding the Queen and bringing her back home with the help of Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

An unnatural rain pounded on the roof of Arendelle Castle when Gerda woke her king and queen. "Lady Idun," she said cautiously, "Lord Agdar, I apologize for waking you at this late hour, but I'm afraid this is an urgent matter."

"Of course, Gerda," the king replied, a stifled yawn the only indication that he had been asleep. Gerda had always admired how well he held himself in any situation. He and his wife made to leave their bed, pulling night robes around themselves.

"It's a babe, Your Majesties. A babe was left at the gate, frozen to the bone, the poor dear, with a note." Gerda withdrew the note from her apron pocket and read it aloud:

"Hail King Agdar and Queen Idun

"Please forgive me for my boldness and irresponsibility, but I can no longer care for my daughter. I know that you still have not borne a child, so I consider it my responsibility to help you in the only way I can. I have no money to offer as thanks or to help with her upbringing. Please, love her as your own despite her abnormal abilities; I'm afraid she was born with them. I have named her Elsa, but you may call her by another name if it suits you. Again, please accept my deepest apologies.

"Your Faithful Servant"

"A babe? Oh, Agdar!" Lady Idun grasped her husband's arm as she spoke. "A little girl? Where is she? How old?"

"She's not but a few months old, at my best guess," Gerda said solemnly, "I ordered a few of the maids to take her to the kitchens to warm and feed her."

"What of these 'abnormal abilities'?" King Agdar asked cautiously, always the practical thinker.

"My Lord, I have not seen anything out of the norm." Gerda waited patiently as the king and queen exchanged a meaningful look.

"Please give us a moment, Gerda," the king requested.

"Of course, Your Majesties," Gerda said, bowing as she backed out of the royal chambers.

"A babe!" Lady Idun whispered excitedly, rounding to face her husband.

"At what cost?" He asked dramatically, raising his hands as he spoke, "What if this is some kind of ploy? Some kind of trap?"

"Oh, Agdar," she shook her head. "You suspect everyone of treason."

"Our safety is of utmost importance," he reminded her, "after all, our country needs us."

"Agdar!" the sternness in his wife's voice startled him, "How dare you be a pessimist in such a promising event? Give the infant a chance before you decide that she's a spy or a threat." She extended a shaking hand toward him. "Come, let's meet our daughter."

"She's not our daughter yet," he reminded her, but Queen Idun recognized a tone of resignation in his voice. King Agdar offered his wife his arm, and they made their way to the kitchens.

"Look at those blonde locks!"

"Awwwww! She has my finger!"

"Poor little dear! How anyone could leave a face like this behind…"

"What a darling! And with those shocking blue eyes!"

All of the maids cooing over the abandoned babe jumped as a throat cleared from somewhere near the door. Realizing that they were in the presence of royalty, they quickly, quietly turned and bowed.

"Your Highnesses," one of the younger maids said, as she presented a cradled baby Elsa to the royal couple. Queen Idun held back a gasp as she carefully took the child she already thought of as her daughter. Her husband stood over her left shoulder staring cautiously at the child, and Idun nearly laughed at the thought that he was afraid the baby could control his mind.

"Elsa," Idun whispered, testing the way the name felt on her tongue as she gently bumping a finger to the child's hand. Tears brimmed her eyes as tiny fingers encased her finger. Agdar knew how badly she wanted a child, and after all of the trouble they'd had trying… Of course, no one knew about that. She had listened to her mother's advice the first time she had become pregnant and waited to announce the pregnancy to the public, and she continued to follow this rule through the years. It was impossibly difficult to lose her children, but she was comforted, at least, that all of Arendelle didn't know of her miscarriages. Her doctors and staff knew, of course, but they had all been sworn to secrecy, propriety aside. Agdar would need an heir, as well. He would know if the laws could allow for an adopted woman into the lineage. Idun looked cautiously away from her daughter - there was no thinking of her as anything else, now - and to her husband.

Agdar was looking adoringly at the child, a small smile curling the corners of his eyes, and, was that a tear barely clinging to his cheek? Idun turned to embrace her husband with her spare arm, cradling their child between them. The king gently brushed a thumb along Elsa's cheek, in awe of how soft and small she was. Her blonde hair tickled the palm of his shaking hand, causing a loving smile to bloom across his noble face.

"Elsa," he answered his wife's unspoken question. The name somehow fit the crown princess of Arendelle. "I will call for a wetnurse right away," he said as he looked at his wife. She silently nodded without looking at him. "I will need to do some paperwork right away." She looked at him briefly before nodding again, then listened to his footsteps fade as she slowly swayed her daughter to sleep.

Agdar decided that it would be safer for Elsa if they kept her origin a secret from the general public. It may be difficult for her to maintain power as a female heir, but he would not allow anyone to discover that she was not actually of royal blood. Of course, the necessary officials would know, and the doctors and staff, but they had all signed contracts of secrecy in the past. And there were laws protecting her claim to the throne, but the king knew how much damage could be done by gossip, and he wanted to protect his daughter any way he could.

Sitting in the high-backed chair behind his elegant oak desk, he sighed. A sigh of relief, he guessed, a sigh of happiness. What a surprise to suddenly have a daughter and an heir! Idun's joy was impossible to misinterpret. Her poor, tired, broken heart seemed to instantly be healed by just gazing into the child's big blue eyes. King Agdar pulled open a drawer to his right, extracted a roll of parchment, and began to write a Declaration of Adoption. He smiled to himself while he wrote, his joy growing with each pen stroke. They had a daughter, a child, an heir, a family!

Two nurseries had already been prepared in hopes of a royal baby, and Queen Idun chose to house Elsa in the blue room, the room closest to the royal chambers. After lying her daughter down in her new crib, the queen bid Gerda watch over her and hurried to meet her husband in his study. She did not want to be away from Elsa for a moment, but feared their discussion would wake her. The early morning staff looked quizzically at Idun as she nearly ran through the halls, a sight they'd never seen before.

When she finally reached the king's study, the queen threw open the door with no concern for propriety or her husband's privacy. She stopped in the doorway as he met her eye. He was smiling more earnestly than she had seen in years, and she knew her smile matched his. He silently extended a flattened roll of parchment toward her, his slanted handwriting apparent through the page. Idun approached his desk to take the parchment and read the Declaration of Adoption four times over before running to her husband and throwing her arms around him. Tears were openly streaming down both of their faces as they held each other, the Declaration of Adoption fluttering unnoticed back to the king's desk.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," a voice came from behind the queen. Kai politely bowed as the royal couple quickly dried their eyes and turned to address him, but the steward could not hide the worry from his eyes.

"What's troubling you, Kai?" the queen asked gently, stepping forward in her concern.

He seemed to steal himself before he managed to say, "The babe…"

"What happened?" both king and queen said as they rushed toward the door.

"It, well, she is safe," he assured them. This only managed to slow the royal couple, but they were already through the king's study door, hurrying to the nursery. Kai ran behind them as he spoke. "But, Your Majesties, it is snowing above her crib." He nearly ran into the king as the couple abruptly stopped in front of him.

"It, what?" King Agdar replied, his royal baring faltering for the first time in Kai's memory.

"It… it's snowing, sir," the steward stammered with an embarrassed half bow.

Queen Idun gasped, abandoned all concerns for appearances, and sprinted toward her daughter. The door to the nursery was already open, an awe-struck Gerda guarding the new princess. The queen ran directly to the crib, brushing at the small snow cloud that hovered over her daughter as she reached toward the babe, but a sound stopped her from scooping Elsa up. A giggle, her daughter was giggling, and reaching tiny fingers toward the snowflakes as they neared her.

Idun held up a hand to halt her husband as she heard him rush into the room.

"She's laughing," she said in awe. "Do you think…" She looked at her husband, "Do you think she's making the snow?"

"No," he said immediately, though doubt clouded his face as he moved to stand beside his wife. Idun carefully lifted the infant from her crib and jumped when the cloud followed, hovering now just above her own head. Elsa giggled, reaching toward a snowflake that drifted above her face. Tiny blue sparks jumped between her fingers and into the cloud, and the snow intensified. Her parents' eyes widened as they looked at one-another.

"'Abnormal abilities'..." the king muttered. "We have to keep this power quiet, no one may know outside of our family." With a sigh, the queen looked back at the baby and nodded. "Gerda and Kai will keep our secret; they are most faithful servants." He looked over his shoulder to see that the subjects of his last comment had shut the door to give them due privacy. He always appreciated his wonderful staff and considered some them friends more than employees.

"This does not change anything," Idun said sternly. Her husband looked at her for a moment before shaking his head and pulling the rest of his family close, Elsa's snow falling around them.


	2. Chapter 2

Elsa squealed with delight as she ran through the halls of her castle. Most of the time, all of the countless rooms were empty and quiet, so the princess was allowed to do as she pleased. Her parents occasionally would host events, though, and the rooms would be filled with foreign leaders, business partners, or distant family members. She would be forced to behave royally and keep her powers secret while the castle hosted guests. The king was very stern with her to never let anyone outside of the family know what she could do with ice and snow. She always struggled to conceal her powers around guests and townsfolk, but her shyness and fear of accidentally exposing herself helped her remember her manners. It was easy to memorize the castle staff's routines and stay away from everyone. No one seemed to know where the mysterious puddles came from except Elsa's nursemaid, Gerda, and the steward, Kai, who would reprimand her for her messes but never explain how they knew she had left them.

Today, she was celebrating the end of her third birthday party. Her parents had thrown a festival, complete with petting zoo, pretzel vendor, sword fights, and a jousting tourney and invited friends and family from places with names she had never heard. Their guests had stayed for three days, which was admittedly a short stay comparatively, but Elsa was happy for the privacy.

She giggled as she felt magic tingle through her toes to form icy snowflake footprints in her wake. The princess threw her hands above her head and ice crystal fireworks exploded from her fingertips. She spun in place a few times, throwing fists of intricate snowflakes into the air around her before running through the double doors leading to the dining hall.

King Agdar sat at the head of the table, Queen Idun at his left. Elsa hugged her mother before walking past, running a hand gently over the swollen abdomen that held her new sibling. She skipped to her father to give him a hug as well before settling into her chair across the table from her mother.

"When will the baby be here?" Elsa asked, her eyes wide and her legs swinging back and forth under her chair.

"Any day, now!" the queen said, excitement clear in her voice. "Stop fidgeting, Elsa," her royal air apparent again.

"Yes, Mama," Elsa replied as she quickly stilled her feet. "Can the baby stay in my room?"

"May," her father corrected, "the baby stay in your room?"

"Yes it may!" Elsa squeaked, half jumping out of her seat before sinking under a stern look from her parents.

"You would not like sharing your room with a baby," Queen Idun said with a gentle smile.

"You," the king said, gently tapping his daughter's nose to make her giggle, "can barely share toys with your cousins."

"They're _cousins_," Elsa spat the word, "not a sibling." Her parents laughed softly at their princess's spirit. Every conversation the royal family had, amongst themselves or with others, seemed to end up about the baby.

Idun was elated to still feel the baby's movement this far into her pregnancy; all concern about the baby's health was far from her mind by now. The citizens of Arendelle had been informed to expect a royal baby and were nearly as excited as the royal family and staff. Of course, in private conversation, Agdar and Idun had agreed that Elsa had exclusive rights to the crown, and even a baby born with royal blood could never change that.0

* * *

Elsa stood on her tip-toes, bright blue eyes peering between the bars of her sister's crib. "Look, Anna!" she whispered as blue sparks danced between her fingers and shot into the air to form swirling ice patterns. The younger princess's laughter at the display floated through the door and down the hall. Elsa danced excitedly when her mother walked into the nursery and laughed.

"I see you were the first to Anna's bedside again today," the queen said with a light touch to her eldest daughter's shoulder. Every morning since she had given birth, Idun woke to find her daughters laughing at ice displays, snowflakes, and other magical oddities that were now just a normal part of living in Arendelle Castle. Anna never seemed afraid of her sister's magic, which was a relief to their parents.

"She wanted to see my ice!" Elsa squeaked as her mother scooped Anna out of the crib. Idun brushed her young daughter's unruly copper hair before parting it and tying off two short pigtails. Her blonde daughter waited patiently for a chance to have her hair styled into a single braid down her back. "When will Anna and I be allowed to share a room?" Elsa grumbled.

"Maybe she will be ready after her birthday," her mother answered patiently.

"But that's so far away!" the toddler whined as she tried to calculate how far away her sister's birthday was, but a few months feels like forever to a three-year-old. Idun only laughed before instructing Elsa to go to the dining hall for breakfast and promising that she would join her once Anna had eaten her own breakfast.

* * *

Was it the storm that woke Elsa or the tug at her blankets? The princess opened her eyes to see a terrified Anna crawling into her bed.

"I'm s-scared…" the younger girl stammered, jumping and screaming when another crack of thunder tore through the skies over Arendelle. Elsa helped her little sister into her bed, quickly ducking under her blankets to hide from the storm with Anna. Of course, the older girl was not afraid, but she would do anything to protect her younger sister.

"Do you want to hear a story, Anna?" she asked, pulling the other girl close. A brush of hair on Elsa's bare shoulder told her that Anna had nodded. "Ok," she smiled, wrapping both arms around her sister before beginning her story.

"Once upon a time, there was a princess who could make snow and ice do whatever she wanted it to do," this was how all of Anna's favorite stories started. "One day, she took a walk in the forest to be alone and practice her magic, but she stumbled upon a camp of trolls!" Anna gasped. "The trolls didn't believe the princess when she told them what she could do, so she built them each a house made of ice.

"The trolls were so happy with their new homes that they introduced the princess to their chief who told the princess that he had an important job for her to do. Hunters had set traps throughout the forest. The traps were meant for animals, but one had caught a small troll who had wandered too far on his own. The trolls were powerful creatures, but not tall enough to release the poor boy. The princess agreed to save the young troll and followed the chief to the traps.

"High up in the trees, the little troll could be seen dangling by one ankle. The princess carefully piled snow under the trap before shooting an ice crystal through the rope that held the young troll. Down the troll fell, through the branches, curling into a bolder before reaching the snowdrift. Snow shot into the air on impact!" Elsa swung her arms up, throwing snow and blankets into the air to emphasize the story. Anna giggled and squealed in delight. Snow settled around them on the bed, and the younger girl began to drag her fingers through the powder, completely oblivious to the storm still raging outside.

"The young troll was safe, and the troll chief named the princess an official member of their family. They held a huge feast to celebrate, and everyone lived happily ever after!" Anna wrapped her arms around her sister as the story came to a close. Elsa beamed at the younger girl before she carefully pushed the snow off of her bed with a small burst of wind. She pulled the blankets over them both as they laid down and planted a small kiss on her sister's cheek. "Good night, Anna," she said, "I love you."

"Good night, Elsa!" Anna said, snuggling closer to the blonde girl, "I love you, too!" After only a few moments, the younger girl's soft snores filled the air.


End file.
